Ukrainecast

Is Russia waging a “holy war”?

Last week the Russian Orthodox Church approved a document that branded the full-scale invasion of Ukraine a “holy war.”So what role does religion play in the Ukraine war?The BBC’s Harry Farley and Lucy Ash, the author of the upcoming book "The Baton and the Cross: Russia's church from Pagans to Putin", try to make sense of it all.We also hear from Father Andriy Zelinskyy, chief military chaplain for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church about how he offers spiritual guidance and comfort on the frontline.Today’s episode is presented by Jamie Coomarasamy and Vitaly Shevchenko.The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Elliot Ryder and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producer was Ricardo McCarthy. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord

The BBC’s only English language programme entirely dedicated to the war in Ukraine and its fallout, Ukrainecast, is your go-to podcast which investigates the biggest issues around the conflict. Could Putin push the nuclear button? How could Donald Trump end the war in 24 hours? What is the price for peace? The podcast is hosted by Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire and BBC Monitoring’s Vitaly Shevchenko. Ukrainecast covers the most important topics around the conflict and speaks to the real people who’ve lived through several years of war. It also brings you agenda-setting interviews with special guests each week such as UK foreign secretary David Cameron, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and pre-eminent Russia expert Fiona Hill.GET IN TOUCH: 
You can join our Ukrainecast online community here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord 
Send us a message or voicenote via WhatsApp to +443301239480 
Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.ukYou can now listen to Ukrainecast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Ukrainecast”. It works on most smart speakers.If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app. If you enjoy Ukrainecast (and if you’re reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below:The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd 
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